OCEAN SCIENCE AND ENGINEERING

Feb.25, Tue through Feb.27, Thur:
Spent all of Tue on a "long line". It was sunny and we saw numerous sea lions. I rigged up a hammock, did some plotting, and had some discussions with Hoffman. Read Cousteau and ate lobster. After this coustovian dinner, I had a long talk with the Captain.
On Wed we were closer to the shore again and noticed a camp. In the morning, Hoyt radio'd that we were not to return to-day but rather on Friday; so I had to send a telegram to Rita. We used the current crosses and meters but no current exceeded one knot (50 cm/sec). In the evening, we plotted and discussed our sampling plan. According to Hoffman, our lines were too closely spaced. We played chess and I beat Joe Wright. Wave measurements: T=12 seconds.
Thur was rather quiet, and we ran lines most of the day. John Hoyt radio'd about diving using the U.W. T.V. We used crewman Joe's pistol for target practice on floating cans.

Feb.28, Fri : Ran lines till 11:30 when wind speed picked up. We prepared for the T.V dive and decided to have Joe and Dave dive first, then Rolly and I myself. left to right: DaveLinneker, Joe Wright, Rolly Thompson

In addition to the TV cable, we had a 100 ft. nylon line with a spare tank and float. Joe and Dave descended at 12:10, with 200 and (140 + 110) atm. resp. Rolly was on standby, I watched the TV monitor in the hold.

Although the image was hazy, every now and then it was clear enough to use Joe's movie camera and my Minox. After some 15 minutes, it appeared as if theT.V. camera was "loose". I got worried, went topside and saw Dave emerging, with his extra bottle and some trouble. In the background I noticed what looked like flippers, (probably of a seal). Rolly went out to help Dave. I pulled on the TV cable but did not get any response. I sent Rolly down to the end of the cable, by then about 45 feet, where he found only the camera and nothing more. He came up fast and very tired, apparently having attempted to pull the ship by the cable. I put out lookouts and had the ship return to our original starting position, where I myself descended. I found a current of some 1/5 knot, 15 ft sight , depth 75-100 ft, many gullies and quite some relief, but no sight of Joe. Upon my return, I had anchor buoys put overboard, while Hoffman radio'd for help. At 16:00, the first airplane flew over. I wrote a report and sent a telegram to Joe's wife Kate. I slept bad and felt miserable and guilty.